2nd Sept 1992
Hogwarts Castle
DADA was the last class of the day for 2nd year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. So after the end of the exciting first lesson, my friends and I headed off to the fifth floor to check out the room that was going to be our new haunt.
"I still can't believe that Dumbledore just gave you a room for your private use." Harry said, straightening his tie that a pixie had tried to strangle him with just a few minutes ago.
"You say that because you can't imagine how bad things could've been without my intervention," I said, looking around for our destination. "After living through as many wars as he has, Dumbledore can. I doubt he feels even an Order of Merlin would be too much of an ask, much less a temporary room. Ah, here we are."
We found the room quite easily, owing it to being on the main corridor. The aged door swung open as I used the key Professor Flitwick had given me. We were welcomed by dust and cobwebs all over the room, that looked like it had been gathering for decades.
"It's a bit of a fixer-upper, isn't it?" Hermione commented looking around, while waving her hand to disperse the dust gathering in front of her face.
A few desks and benches were piled on one side of the room, while a solitary blackboard occupied the wall opposite. A couple of windows decorated the adjacent wall, allowing light to filter through the dust-caked glass.
"Yeah," I said, moving to the center of the room. "But there's definitely room for growth." I took out my wand and focused.
"SCOURGIFY!"
The overpowered spell created a ripple as it passed through the room. Instantly, the dirt and grime simply vanished, the cobwebs on the ceilings and the walls disintegrated af if they were never there, and the room was left squeaky clean as the day it was made.
I gave an approving nod as the charm performed satisfactorily, before concentrating again.
"CAPACIOUS EXTREMIS!"
The length and breadth of the floor and the roof increased, while the walls were shoved further back and rose higher, taking the ceiling along with them. In an instant, the room expanded by about ten times, looking more like a huge Ballroom than a former classroom.
I looked around at a job well done, and spotted looks of amazement on the faces of my companions.
"That was wicked!" yelled Neville.
"Awesome!" said Harry.
"You've got to teach me how to do that!" Hermione said, with a pleading look.
I smiled at their enthusiasm. Turning around, I observed the room with a critical gaze.
"Looks a bit spartan...we'll need some good furniture to liven the place up. Carpets as well." I finally decided.
"Don't forget bookshelves!" Hermione instantly added. "If we're going to study here, we'll need plenty of books."
"How about some training dummies?" Harry suggested. "We could practice any new spells we learn here."
"We should get some of those floating candles used in the Great Hall to light up the place." Neville supplied. "And some plants to keep the air fresh."
I nodded at their suggestions, making a few additions of my own. I had been to the Room of Lost Things before. It was a maze in there, cluttered with all kinds of things from ages past. While I could get most of the things we needed from there and simply repair them, it wouldn't have the variety I wanted, filled as it was with antiques.
Plus, I really wanted to set up some entertainment to make it a proper hangout zone. Hmm, looks like a little shopping spree is in order.
//////////////////////////
2nd Sept 1992
Headmaster's Office, 6 pm
"Good evening, Ben. Please, come in." said Dumbledore as the polished oak door of his office swung open to admit me. "Lemon drop?" he offered as I sat down in front of him.
"Thank you, Professor." I said, taking a candy from the plate. "Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick," I inclined my head to greet the other people present in the room.
"Mr Carter," Professor McGonagall gave me a brief nod. "I understand you have something important to tell us?"
"I do. Nothing to be alarmed at...But it will definitely shock you, so you might want to sit down first." I said.
The three of them exchanged glances, before Professors McGonagall and Flitwick quietly sat down by the Headmaster's side.
"Alright, Ben... what is this about?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well... there's really no easy way to say this." I took a deep breath. "So, here it goes...Sirius Black is innocent!" I dropped the bomb.
Moments passed by in silence as the three teachers, alongwith many of the occupants of the overlooking portraits stared woodenly at me. Finally -
"What!?" yelled Professor McGonagall.
"I beg your pardon?" sounded the Charms master.
"Ben," said Dumbledore, leaning forward and looking very serious. "Explain, please."
I nodded my head at their expected reactions. Taking a moment to compose myself, I started, "You all know how Sirius Black and James Potter were inseparable in school... the very best of friends. How they trusted each other completely. How James Potter made Sirius Black the secret keeper of his Fidelius protected house. How Sirius Black betrayed the Potters and gave their location to Voldemort." I gave them a sweeping look. "You all know that. You are all wrong."
"How do you mean?" Dumbledore asked quickly.
"Sirius Black was never the Potter's secret-keeper. James and Sirius realised how obvious it would be. So, they decided to use someone else instead....someone they both trusted....while letting everyone else think that Sirius was the secret keeper. Unfortunately, they trusted the wrong man." I said.
"Who?" asked Professor Flitwick.
"Peter Pettigrew." I answered.
"Impossible!" Professor McGonagall protested at once. "Peter Pettigrew is dead! After the Potters were killed, he found Sirius Black, who killed him alongwith all those poor muggles."
"No." I shook my head. "It was Sirius who tracked down Pettigrew. Pettigrew blasted the street apart, killed all those people and escaped in the confusion. He cut off one of his fingers and left it on the scene to make everyone believe that he was dead. He is very much alive....and he is in this castle right now."
Prodded by their questioning glances, I continued. "While they were in school, James, Sirius and Peter found out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. To keep their troubled friend company, the three of them became Animagi." - Professor McGonagall gave a sharp gasp - "Peter's form was a rat. After giving Sirius the slip by escaping into the sewers, he entered a wizard home. He has been living as the Weasley's pet rat "Scabbers" ever since."
"If this is indeed true, then why didn't Sirius declare his innocence in all this time?" sounded a portrait which contained a clever-looking fellow with a pointed beard, wearing robes of slytherin green and silver. "Why keep quiet?"
"Benjamin Carter meet Phineas Nigellus Black, one of the previous Headmasters of our school." Dumbledore made the introduction.
"Guilt, mostly," I said, giving a nod to Hogwarts' least favourite Headmaster ever. "It was Sirius who advised the Potters to use Pettigrew, believing that Voldemort would never suspect someone as cowardly as Peter to be their secret-keeper. Good plan, that... shame they didn't know Pettigrew was Voldemort's spy in the first place.
He blamed himself for getting his best friend and his wife killed. After Pettigrew's apparent suicide, the Aurors stunned him. As far as I know, he was chucked straight into Azkaban without a trial. Left with nothing in the outside world, he accepted his imprisonment as self-imposed punishment for failing his friends."
"I knew there was something wrong," said Professor McGonagall, shaking her head with a bitter face. "Sirius Black was the last person I would've expected to join the Dark Lord. But there was just too much circumstantial evidence against him."
"You are not the only one who felt that way, Minerva," Professor Flitwick voiced out, for once devoid of his usual cheerful disposition. "Even when we knew there was a spy in the Order, I never once suspected him. His so-called betrayal was a great shock to me."
"How sure are you about this, Ben?" Dumbledore said at last.
I considered the question. "As you know, my knowledge comes from events that I saw playing out in an alternate universe, not this one. So while it is possible that things happened differently here, based on my observations it's unlikely.
Ron's pet rat Scabbers happens to be missing a toe, an appendage that based on the recovered finger, Pettigrew should be missing. Also, according to Ginny, Scabbers has been in their family for more than 10 years....an uncommonly long time for a common garden rat. Based on that, we can safely assume that Scabbers is Pettigrew.
But if that is indeed the case, it begs the question - Why is an Order of Merlin recipient war survivor hiding as a middle-class family's pet rat? Surely, he can't still be afraid of Sirius Black, who is serving life imprisonment in Azkaban - a prison that no one has ever escaped from?
No, it is far more likely that Pettigrew is hiding from the Death Eaters, that ones that weaseled their way out of prison. After all, they know that he was the spy... the one that led Voldemort that night to the Potter's, where he fell. As far as they are concerned, he is the one responsible for their master's defeat."
"It makes sense, Albus," Professor McGonagall grudgingly said to the Headmaster after considering my words. "Assuming that Pettigrew is alive, I can't think of any other reason why he would still be in hiding."
"Perhaps we should take a closer look at Mr Weasley's pet?" Professor Flitwick ventured.
Dumbledore didn't say anything for a while. His face was turned towards Fawkes' perch, but his eyes held that faraway look that told us his mind was elsewhere. At last, he removed his gaze from the beautiful phoenix with a despondent sigh.
"This is my fault. I should've known things were not as simple as they appeared." He shook his head, looking old and weary.
"You can't blame yourself, Albus. None of us could've predicted this," said Professor McGonagall.
"I should have," Dumbledore insisted. "When Sirius was arrested, I was running around, trying to erase any hints of Lily's muggle relatives. When he was immediately sent to Azkaban, I assumed that he had been found guilty by the Wizengamot. That, coupled with my own disappointment at his so-called betrayal, meant that I never once tried to speak to the man I had considered a friend. If only I had, I could've stopped an innocent person from unjustly spending a decade in what could generously be called hell on earth."
Dumbledore stood up and moved to the front of the office window. The dying light of the day showed a spectacular view of the dozens of gleaming windows adorning the Great Hall and the grounds surrounding the school. He waved his wand and a beautiful ethereal phoenix made of bluish white light materialised. It tilted its head, as if listening before it turned and flew away through the closed window.
"I'll be going to Azkaban the day after tomorrow....to have a long overdue conversation with our old friend," He said at length. "If everything is indeed as we have just heard, Sirius will be released within the week, and I'll personally make sure that Pettigrew takes Sirius' place in his old cell."
////////////////////
After the rather serious discussion in the evening, I returned to the Great Hall where my friends and I continued to talk about the things we could add to the new room, while around us, fellow students kept talking about Lockhart's disastrous first lesson. I expected Hermione to defend him, but she kept surprisingly mum. I guess seeing his wig torn off while her hero screamed like a little girl was a bit too much even for her.
At dinner, I watched Pettigrew as Ron fed him scraps from the Gryffindor table. I have to say, I don't get it. Why would anyone ever choose to live like this? It's not like the man didn't have options. He could've used the Imperius on a muggle bank employee, grabbed some cash and disappeared into the States, Australia or even Canada.
I guess he was too much of a coward to venture into the unknown. Doesn't matter, judging by the way Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick were surreptitiously looking at him, it doesn't look like he's gonna be out and about for long. Just hope the rat doesn't take notice and makes a run for it.